Alexander Belov's wife was searched

On January 21, investigators searched the apartment of the wife of Alexander Belov (Potkin), one of the leaders of the "Russians" movement, who is accused in the case of embezzlement of the assets of the Kazakh BTA Bank. This was reported on Thursday by the TASS news agency, citing Belov's lawyer Ivan Mironov.

“Somewhere at 07:30 in the morning, investigators came to his wife Olga’s apartment, now she is being searched. The investigation into the case of Alexander Potkin has already been completed, the case has been submitted to the court, so we still do not understand what the search is for, ”said the lawyer.

According to Mironov, the search was officially conducted in the case of Belov's brother, Vladimir Basmanov, but the questions concerned Belov specifically.

Later, Basmanov himself wrote in a blog that his wife and his parents were also searched, “threatened with problems, interrogations and a future announcement <…> on the international wanted list as a “especially dangerous enemy of the state”. According to Basmanov, personal belongings were seized from his relatives during the searches. His relatives were “hinted” that he could be charged with calls for extremist activity (Article 280 of the Criminal Code) and that his arrest was “inevitable”.

Alexander Belov, in addition to money laundering, Belov is accused of creating a criminal community to bring about the regime of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

The case of Alexander Belov was transferred on January 20 from the Nagatinskiy District Court of Moscow to the Meshchanskiy. This decision was made due to the fact that the registration of the transaction of shares, which the investigation regards as laundering money stolen from BTA Bank in Kazakhstan, took place on the territory that belongs to the Meshchansky Court.